Calor amp 40 Watts Class A

Has anyone built this amplifier???.I am curious.Thank you

> Average output power--------40W/8 ohms (without exiting class A!)
> Power Bandwidth-------------11Hz - 135kHz
> Small signal frequency BW --- 2,5Hz - 450kHz
> THD----------------------------<0.008% (20Hz-20KHz/80%power)
> Phase shift --------------------up to 2,5� in the range 20Hz-20kHz
> Slew rate----------------------85V/uS
> Dumping factor---------------->750
 

Attachments

  • CALOR-schem.gif
    CALOR-schem.gif
    20.9 KB · Views: 4,738
Last edited:
Neither you nor anyone has to believe me anything. Build it and see for yourself my friend - that is the best option. I am probably the last person to be asked for description of how one amp sound, if for nothing else but for the fact that it is my design and I will probably be quite biased no matter how hard I try not to be. That is the question for reviewers of HiFi magazines, they developed a convenient vocabulary.

Thanks to two of my old friends (audiophiles, not builders), prototype has been listened one evening alongside one nicely done DIY Hiraga and my old HK 6600. To me, CALOR performed clearly more pleasant and I was glad to hear the same impression from both of those friends.

Only THD is a simulation result (I don’t have instruments to reliably measure such low distortion) but other parameters were measured on prototype. My apologize for omission of measurement frequency for Dumping factor – that has been measured on 200Hz.
 
Dr.Bora, the IC appears to be an NE5534 but it is not mentioned anywhere. Do you think that the use of a different and more modern opamp may improve the sonics of the amp? I found that NE5534 is very good and pleasant sounding but a little too laid back in the mids; generally, a more forward mid presentation is desirable and most Class A amps have this character.
 
Thanks, Dr.Bora for the reply.

With so many amplifier offerings on your site, the choice is difficult without knowing what the characteristics of each are. I am gazing at Calor-Gold, Lambda, DOGC-Mk3, CroSer, T-Reference and Modus as likely candidates for a reference amp to drive a pair of Fostex FE168EZ and Fountek Ribbon Tweeters. At the moment I am using a modified Quasi-NMOS and want to hook up the Stochino amp which needs final assembly. The latter is a great amp which I made several years ago and gave away to a friend.

Which of your designs would you say is the most musical, detailed and engaging amp? That is not a question you might want to answer but how about listing the strengths of each amp eg., I read that Modus (Techno) is a very good alrounder with particularly great bass performance or that Studio has a wide and deep sound stage? Thanks for your yeomen service to the DIY community.
 
discrete design vs opamp

Yes Samuel it is NE5534AN and YES, I tried several other high class modern OPAMP-s but without any noticeable improvement!

Hi Bora.I admire your designs.It seems ne5534 makes 10x gain.Maybe opa637 gives better sound.Why did not you try discrete components instead of opamp?Maybe the sound quality improves then(I am sure it sound goods now indeed)Thank you
 
Last edited:
@ Samuel Jayaraj

As I said many times before, that is the most difficult task for me. First those are my designs and it will be hard for me to remain completely unbiased in giving any kind of “listing” based on listening impressions. Listening memory is too volatile category to be used in valid valuation of audio equipment. My work is generally not money & profit driven and for a listing of that kind I would have to posses appropriate “audiophile magazines vocabulary” which I don’t have.

In your case, Fostex FE168EZ and Fountek Ribbon Tweeters are not drivers that need a lot of power due to their high sensitivity. So, any high quality amp in a 50W class should fit the bill. Stochino’s amp is a very fine candidate, but Modus, Studio, Lambda or Epsilon might be equally good choice. They will very likely sound better than Quasi-NMOS but that is only my opinion!!!
-----------------------------

@ umut1001

Already done that and frankly… you are right… it sound a bit better. That version exists but is not for public yet.
 
I would go for DOGC-H.:cheers:

Raj
Here is my DOGC-H:

(many people that have build it fall in love in it imediately ;) )
 

Attachments

  • PICT0124.JPG
    PICT0124.JPG
    103.6 KB · Views: 533
  • PICT0121.JPG
    PICT0121.JPG
    141.9 KB · Views: 605
  • PICT0122.JPG
    PICT0122.JPG
    142.2 KB · Views: 850
  • PICT0117.JPG
    PICT0117.JPG
    138 KB · Views: 911
  • PICT0112.JPG
    PICT0112.JPG
    159.1 KB · Views: 801
  • PICT0111.JPG
    PICT0111.JPG
    145.4 KB · Views: 1,640
  • PICT0110.JPG
    PICT0110.JPG
    139.3 KB · Views: 1,836
  • PICT0109.JPG
    PICT0109.JPG
    143.3 KB · Views: 1,892
  • PICT0108.JPG
    PICT0108.JPG
    162.3 KB · Views: 1,942
  • PICT0107.JPG
    PICT0107.JPG
    129.4 KB · Views: 2,023